Belt fabric for plastic-pad-molding conveyor

ABSTRACT

Belt fabric is made up of alternate groups of spiral elements having equispaced vertices. The spiral elements of each group are wound in a direction opposite to the winding of the spiral elements in the groups adjacent thereto. Each pair of adjacent spiral elements are joined together by a crimped connecting wire extending therethrough and engaging nonconsecutive vertices of the pair of adjacent spiral elements. The ends of each connecting wire are rigidly connected with opposite ends of one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements it joins together.

United States Patent Appl. No.

Joseph .1. Feld Northridge, Calif.

July 7, 1969 Sept. 7, 1971 United States Steel Corporation inventor Filed Patented Assignee I BELT FABRIC FOR PLASTIC-PAD-MOLDING CONVEYOR 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl .1 74/239 Field of Search References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Amhruson 239 X/ 3,008,676 11/1961 Scherfel.

Primary Examiner-Leonard H. Gerin Attorney-Donald S, Ferito ABSTRACT: Belt fabric is made up of alternate groups of spiral eleinents having equispaced vertices. The spiral elements of each group are wound in a direction opposite to the winding of the spiral elements in the groups adjacent thereto. Each pair of adjacent spiral elements are joined together by a crimped connecting wire extending therethrough and engaging nonconsecutive vertices of the pair of adjacent spiral elements. The ends of each connecting wire are rigidly connected with opposite ends of one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements it joins together.

BELT FABRIC FOR PLASTIC-PAD-MOLDING CONVEYOR The present invention relates generally to the art of padding fabrication and more particularly has as its primary object the provision of an improved woven wire belt fabric especially suitable for use in making up a conveyor utilized in the manufacture of sponge rubber padding.

It is a more specific object of my invention to provide an im proved belt fabric and method as set forth in the preceding statements of object in which the belt fabric comprises groups of spiral elements disposed in a common plane and having substantially equispaced vertices along the length thereof, the elements of each group being wound in the direction opposite to the, direction of winding of the elements in the group adjacent thereto, each pair of adjacent spiral elements being joined hingedly together by a crimped connecting wire extending longitudinally therethrough and engaging nonconsecutive vertices of each of the adjacent spiral elements, the ends of each of the connecting wires are rigidly connected with opposite ends of only one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements the connecting wire joins together.

These and other objects will become more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawing, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the belt fabric of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged end view taken substantially along the line ll-II of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a sponge rubber padding made in accordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to the drawing, reference numerals 2 and 4 designate sections of a woven wire conveyor belt fabric wherein the section 2 is formed by left-hand spiral elements 6 and the section 4 of righbhand spiral elements 8. It will be noted that although I have shown each of the groups 2 and 4 as consisting of three spiral elements each, the sections may, if desired, be made up or more or less than three spiral elements each with the elements of each group being wound in the direction opposite to the direction of winding of the spiral elements in the groups adjacent thereto.

Each pair of spiral elements of the belt fabric are joined hingedly together by a crimped connecting wire 10 which extends longitudinally therethrough. The crimped connecting wire 10 has a pitch at least twice as great as the pitch of the spiral elements 6 and v8 whereby each of the connecting wires engages nonconsecutive vertices 12 of adjacent spiral elements. The vertices of each of the spiral elements are substantially equispaced. The ends of the connecting wires 10 are rigidly connected, as by welding, with opposite ends of only one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements the connecting wire joins together, as at 14, 14.

In use, to manufacture sponge rubber type padding utilized as carpet underlay and the like, a conveyor made up of the belt fabric of the invention is used to support uncured foam rubber sheet as it passes through the cure oven. The weave of the belt fabric of the invention imparts a pattern to the surface of the rubber in contact therewith. The pattern surface of the cured rubber becomes the upper surface of the finished padding. The imparted pattern, as shown in FIG. 3, produces an optimum degree of resilience in the product and also provides an appearance which is appealing to prospective customers.

I claim:

1. A woven wire belt fabric comprising groups of spiral elements disposed in a common plane in side-by-side relation, each of said spiral elements having substantially equispaced vertices along the length thereof, the elements of each group beingwound in the direction opposite to the direction of windmg 0 the elements in the groups ad acent thereto, each pair of adjacent spiral elements being joined hingedly together by a crimped connecting wire extending longitudinally therethrough, said crimped connecting wire having a pitch at least twice as great as the pitch of said spiral elements whereby each of said connecting wires engages non-consecutive vertices ofeach of the adjacent spiral elements, the end ofeach of said connecting wires being rigidly connected with opposite ends of only one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements the connecting wire joins together. 

1. A woven wire belt fabric comprising groups of spiral elements disposed in a common plane in side-by-side relation, each of said spiral elements having substantially equispaced vertices along the length thereof, the elements of each group being wound in the direction opposite to the direction of winding of the elements in the groups adjacent thereto, each pair of adjacent spiral elements being joined hingedly together by a crimped connecting wire extending longitudinally therethrough, said crimped connecting wire having a pitch at least twice as great as the pitch of said spiral elements whereby each of said connecting wires engages non-consecutive vertices of each of the adjacent spiral elements, the end of each of said connecting wires being rigidly connected with opposite ends of only one of the pair of adjacent spiral elements the connecting wire joins together. 